A major portion of the loss was due to the disruption in navigational aids.
Representational Image. (Photo: DC/File)
Chennai: Chennai airport has incurred a loss of nearly Rs 100 crore due to the torrential rain and resultant floods which occurred in the first week of this month. A major portion of the loss was due to the disruption in navigational aids. Along with that there were also 17 breaches across the wall which also need restoration.
“This is the estimate we have sent to the headquarters of Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Delhi and the final vetting is still pending,” said airport director Deepak Shastri. Damage assessment was conducted by all the departments of AAI in Chennai and the estimated value was fixed on the evaluation done by various sections.
Navigational aids which suffered damage included radars, navigational systems and approach radars. Others included passenger boarding bridge ( PBB) and current regulated routes (CRR).
Transformers and electrical substations too were included in the list and so were some runway lights and control panels. “Navigational aids were all in the operational area which was almost submerged under water. Hence, they suffered too much of damage and all of them are electronic equipment. That is the reason for the huge amount of loss. Fortunately, the equipment were switched off, otherwise damage would have been more,” said an AAI official.
Adding that the runway lights too were submerged under water, the official said, “A lot of repair work has to be done on those as well.” Meanwhile, separate insurance is there for vehicles which also suffered damage like departmental vehicles, follow-me jeeps ( which are operational around the air-side) and the specialist equipment vehicles.
The damages caused had been deemed as a setback for the airport by the Union minister for civil aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, himself. The airport director said the final vetting is expected sometime next week as they will do the insurance cover and the figure of Rs 100 crore may vary.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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